Luck Archives - Scott's Thinking

Hard Work And Luck

Posted on March 8, 2023

These both look the same. The results can lull you into a false sense of comfort and expectation.

Being a millionaire may have come from hard work as an employee or a business builder. But you could have also simply won the lottery. In both cases you can enjoy or show off your wealth. No one needs to know how you got it.

However, you’ll know how you got it. And one route is vastly more likely to have eventual success than the other.

So start off with hard work and if you get a lucky break along the way, enjoy it.

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Plan So You Don’t Use Up Your Luck

Posted on January 8, 2022

Not planning is easier in the moment. You have more fun time, free time, or stress free time. But, sometimes things then happen that you would have foreseen with a plan. So now you hope and pray you get a little unexpected intervention or luck.

That’s one way to live your life. It’s a little more dramatic, exciting and stressful. And if you enjoy stress and uncertainty, maybe that’s the way to go.

However, if calm, relaxed and controlled is what you would like more of, then get planning. It will force you to THINK about the whole picture a bit more. Then you can assess what you will need to OVERCOME and how you might be able to do that.

Then take these thoughts and quickly WRITE them out. Writing brings clarity to your thoughts and allows you to REVIEW your thoughts in note format. Then you can challenge what you wrote and even confirm certain assumptions or guesses.

Now you have the ingredients for a PLAN. Take those written notes from your initials thoughts and challenges to overcome and organise them a little better on a new page. Chronological order is good. Timeframes, cashflows and the effort required will become much clearer.

You will now need less luck and divine intervention. There will be less stress because you have a roadmap. You know where you’ll eat, get petrol and arrive. You can enjoy the journey much more rather than feel anxious throughout.

Then you can use your good luck when you really need it. Not simply because you didn’t want to put the effort into a plan.

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Superstitions

Posted on November 22, 2020

Last week it was Friday the 13th. In 2020, for that matter. Did you approach that day any differently than others? What are superstitions and why are they so super?

A definition from Wikipedia is, “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation”. In addition, it says, “an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition.”

That doesn’t sound so super. It actually seems a little dismissive and belittling. This is interesting because so many people believe in certain superstitions, even if it is just a little bit. These ideas usually involve luck or prophecy. Generally they mean doing something for another thing to happen.

Actions you might do to try to impact a particular outcome are: cross your fingers, toes or legs, pray, or arrange your house according to Feng Shui. Some people will also carry a lucky charm, wish upon a star or not shave for days. Another popular idea is to have a lucky number, shirt or hat.

It can be easy to laugh at people with superstitions. Yet, we often overlook our own little desire to influence the universe, in our favour, when we seek higher force intervention.

Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or isn’t relevant. Without a little irrational thinking we might not have electricity, mobile phones or heart surgery.

Perhaps superstitions are super in some way.